Cartridge.



7 Patented Feb. 25, I902. H. MAXhi'i. CARTRIDGE. Application filed Aug. 24, 1899,)

(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet l a. V. 9 /1/ 4 A? v 7 w x @A w .2 a w 3 1/ No. 694,295. Patented Feb. 25, I902.

u. MAXIM.

CARTRIDGE. (Application filed. Aug. 24. 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(N0 Model.)

witness I Guam/W11 NITE ST T HUDSON MAXIM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CARTRIDGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part, of Letters Patent Ho. 69%,295, dated February 25, 1902.

Application filed August 24, 1899. Serial No. 728,304. (No model.)

' zen of the United States of America,and a resident of the borough of Manhattan,city,cou-nty, and State of New York, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Cartridges,which invention is fully set forth in the following specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in cartridges, and has for its object, mainly, to provide a charge of explosive material for guns which may be handled integrally and may, if desired, beomployed with the projectile attached thereto as fixed ammunition, and which charge shall also present to the flame of ignition the minimum of burning-surface and be consumed with such increase of burning areas as vto produce the desired acceleration and secure the highest ballistic results.

' In carrying out my invention I arrange a plurality of cylinders of explosive material, one within another, each of the interior cylinders being enough smaller than the cylinder inclosing it to permit one being inserted Within the other and to provide a passage between them for the ignition-flame and the products of combustion, thus forming a cylindrical mass of powder having longitudinal demarcations extending therethrough. The several cylinders composing the charge may be, and preferably are, connected together and are perforated transversely, preferably radially, with a suflicient number of uniformly-disposed holes to provide for the lateral venting of the gases of combustion from the cylinders to prevent their disruption by said gases and also to provide for suitable burning thicknesses between the perforations to secure the simultaneous completion of. the combustion throughout the mass of the explosive. The outer tubes being larger than those which are inclosed are provided with a correspondingly-1arger number of perfora tions. Ooncentrically arranged tubes, perforated as described, constitute a charge especially adapted to secure progressive combustion. These tubes may be made either by stufiing or by forming into sheets and then rolling into cylinders, or the entire charge may be made intoa multiperforated sheet and rolled upon itself, and this may or may not be placed concentrically. within a multiperforated tube. Instead of extending entirely through the walls of the cylinders some of the perforations in the form of cells may extendbut part way through.

An essential feature of the invention consists in arranging cylinders of explosive material so as to provide longitudinal demarcations through the charge,,iu combination with lateral perforations, the demarcations beingpreferably such as to provide greater burning-surfaces than the lateral perforations, but usually of such length as to require additional outlets for the gasesof combustion in order to avoid the disruption of the charge by such gases. For this reason the lateral perforations are made to enter the longitudinal demarcations and may extend through such demarcations into the mass of the next interior cylinder or even through both cylinders. It will be readily understood that the entire charge may be composed of asingle set of cylinders of explosive material, as above described, or be made up of a plurality of such sets of cylinders, either tied together in a bundle or fagot or cemented together, as desired.

Then a projectile is employed as an integral part of the cartridge as fixed ammunition, the outer tube or cylinder is made to extend over a portion of the projectile'that is to say, i

the charge is formed with a cup at its forward end for the reception of the projectile, and the projectile may be seated and secured therein in any suitable manner, being preferably seated deep within the charge to secure greater rigidity. I

In the accompanying'drawings I have for the purpose of illustrating the inventive idea shown some of the forms which the inven tion may assume; but such drawings are to be understood as for the purpose of illustratiou only and not as defining the limits of the invention.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view of a charge composed of cyla longitudinal section of a charge with its at- 'of successive sizes.

tached projectilein place in the charge-chamber of a gun; and Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of a charge and its attached projectile, showing a somewhat dilferent arrangement of the perforations in the adjacent cylinders of the charge.

Referring to Fig. 1, the charge consists of a plurality of closely-fitting concentric tubes In this form the tubes are made of sheets of transversely perforated explosive material cut to the proper length and rolled in the form of cylinders, the joints 2 of which are arranged to alternate or to otherwise break joints when'the tubes are assembled. The distance between the perforations 3 in all the tubes is substantially uniform, and from this it will be understood that the larger tubes will have correspondinglya greater number of perforations. Upon firing the charge the igniting-flash will traverse the large central opening t and also the spaces or demarcations between the tubes, which, however, may be exceedingly small and ordinarily provided for by the slight irregularities of the surface of the material. In order to prevent too great an erosion of the walls of the powder-chamber in which the charge may be placed by the gases of combustion escaping from the perforations, the outer tube 5 in this case is not perforated, but provided with a corresponding number of cells 6 on its'inner surface, which extend into the layer of explosive material a sufficient depth to leave an unperforated layer of such thicknesses to be consumed simultaneously with the complete combustion of the remainder of the charge.

Fig. 3 shows a form of the charge cornposed of a plurality of layers of comparative greater thickness than those in the preceding forms and provided with radial perforations 3 and'cells 10 of varying lengths extending from the outer surface of the charge partially through the body of the material. In this way initial burning-surface is uniformly distributed by radial perforations and cells in the body of the charge without recourse to a great number of layers.

The modification shown in Fig. 4 consists of a series of concentric tubes 1, provided with longitudinal ribs 13, which serve to separate the tubes and to provide longitudinal perforations for the same,purpose as those shown in Fig. 7. i

Fl". 5 illustrates an end-view offa charge Fig. 6 illustrates the charge made of a continuous perforated sheet 7, rolled in the form of spiral when viewed end on, and preferably bound by a cord 8, of any suitable material.

In all of the foregoing forms the perforations are of such dimensions and relative arrangement as to provide a uniform thickness of material between them, so as to cause the simultaneous completion of combustion of the explosive throughout the mass.

The charge or cartridge, combined with a projectile and placed in a gun 22, is shown in Fig. 7. The explosive charge 23 may be any one of the forms before described, with one or more of'its outer layers extending beyond the main body of the charge and surrounding the projectile 24, which is held more securely in position by having the explosive charge shrunk and cemented to it. By this construction the propulsive charge and projectile may be handled in one piece and the loading of agun separately with projectile and powder charge avoided. It also has the advantageofdispensingwith aninclosingcase,which has to be removed from the gun before a new cartridge can be inserted. The actual loading of a gun is therefore the only operation to be performed, and consequently the rate of fire may be greatly increased.

The front end 25 of the charge is preferably beveled to approximately fit the contraction of the powder charge to the rifled portion 26 of the gun. At this point the projectile is provided with a metallic ring 27, serving as a driving-ring and as a guiding-ring, and also with an obturating-ring 28, directly in the rear of the driving-ring. A similar drivingring 30 and obturating-ring 31 is constructed around the base of the projectile, which upon reaching thelands of the gun assume the function of rotating the projectile and preventing escape of powder-gases jointly with the forward driving-ring and obturating-ring.

The interior of thepropulsive charge contains a flash charge 32, which is sealed in the inner tube bya thin layer 33 of easily-ignited or explosive material lying opposite the firing device 34 in the breech-block 35.

In Fig. 8 the cartridge is shown with the projectile in longitudinal section. In this case the flash charge is sealed by a thin inverted oup'36, ofany suitable material, such as paper or cloth, inserted in the central opening and lying flush with base of the charge.

Having thus described my invention, I claimp 1. In a cartridge charge, a plurality of concentrically arranged integral cylinders of explosive material with longitudinal demarcations constituting a flame-passage between the cylinders and a plurality of sym metricallyarranged lateral vents to said demarcations.

2. In a cartridge charge, a plurality of integral cylinders of explosive'material arranged one within the other with longitudinal demarcations constituting a flame-passage between the cylinders and lateral vents to said demarcations.

3. In a cartridge charge, a plurality of into-- gral cylinders of explosive material arranged one within the other with longitudinal demarcations constituting a flame-passage be tween the cylinders, lateral vents to said demarcations,and laterally-cpenin g cells formed in the walls of the cylinders.

4. In acartridge charge, a plurality of inte-' gral cylinders of explosive material arranged one within the other with longitudinal de marcations constituting a flame-passage loo-- tween the cylinders, a plurality of symmetrically-arranged vents to said demarcations and a plurality of symmetrically-arranged laterally-opening cells formed in the walls of the cylinders.

5. In a cartridge charge, a plurality of integral cylinders of explosive material arranged one within the other with longitudinal demarcations constituting a flame-passage. be-' tween the cylinders and lateral vents to said demarcations, and a projectile seated in and surrounded by one of said cylinders.

6. In a cartridge charge, a plurality of integral cylinders of explosive material provided with lateral vents and laterally-opening cells,

said vents and cells being arranged equidisand a plurality of symmetrically-arranged I tending from said perforation through said,

cylinders.

9. In a cartridge charge, an integral cylin- I der of explosive material having a longitudinal pert ration, a second integral cylinder surrouu ing the first and having a longitudinally-extending demarcation constitutingv a flame-passage betweenthem, each of said cylinders being provided with a plurality of symmetrically-arranged lateral vents.

, 10. In a cartridge charge, an integral cylinder of explosive material havinga longitudinal perforation, a' second integral cylinder surrounding the first and having a longitudinally-extending demarcation constituting a flame-passage between them, each of saidcylinders being provided with a plurality of symmetrically-arranged lateral vents and a pin rality of laterally-openingcells. Y

In a cartridge charge, an integral cylinder'of explosive material having alongitudinal perforation, a second integral cylinder surrounding the first and having a. longitudi- I nally-extending demarcation constituting a flame-passage between them, each of said cylinders being provided with a plurality of symmetrically-arranged lateral vents and a plu= rality of symmetrically-arranged laterally- HUDSON MAXIM. Witnesses; v

W.-H. GRAHAM, LILIAN MAXIM. 

